Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
She swallowed so hard, it was audible. “You know, they don’t pay me enough for this shit. But if I’m getting stuck in an elevator with someone . . . I’m glad it’s with you.”
My pulse hadn’t stopped banging in my neck, and her words made it race faster.
She subtly shimmied in my arms again, but this time it must have been to pull out her phone. The flashlight jumped to life, thankfully pointed up at the ceiling so it didn’t blind us. The light cast an artificial glow on the space.
I was struck by how beautiful she looked, and somehow, she seemed just as affected by me. My fingers moved without thinking, brushing her pink hair back out of her eyes so I could see her better.
“You don’t look scared. Aren’t you scared?” She asked it as if there were hardly any air left in her lungs.
“No.” And for once in my life, I meant it. I wanted to kiss her so badly, everything in me ached. I could muster up the courage to try it. We’d almost died, and there was nothing left lose, right?
But before I could, she broke our gaze, dropping her head to stare at my chest. She looked deep in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
“That I’m not allowed to do this.”
Was she talking to me or herself? “Do what?”
Her chin tilted up, she leaned forward, and then she gently pressed her lips to mine.
Her kiss was soft and tentative, but mine? It was anything but. Her initiation broke all the restraint I’d had. I cupped a hand on her cheek, holding her still as my mouth began to wage an all-out assault.
Fire burst inside me, and sparks showered down my limbs at our connection. Maybe the intensity was heightened by the emotions from the evening, but this kiss? It was sensational. Easily the best I’d ever had.
She issued a moan that was so subtle, I nearly missed it. I parted her lips and slipped my tongue inside her lush mouth, deepening our kiss. We pressed together, chest flattened to chest, and I slid my other hand farther down her back, all the way until I could grab a handful of her ass.
My action caused her to drop her phone, making the flashlight bounce before it landed at our feet, but she didn’t seem concerned. Or maybe she was just as swept away as I was. I wasn’t usually so aggressive, but nothing about tonight had been typical, and she certainly didn’t seem to mind the way I encouraged her to push her lower body against mine.
I’d been told fear could be a powerful aphrodisiac, and tonight I was a fucking believer. Lust exploded inside me, swimming in my head and dulling all thoughts except for the pulsing need to hear her moan again. I wanted it louder this time.
It was why I didn’t acknowledge the short series of knocks that came from the other side of the elevator door.
Chelsea tore her mouth away from mine, breaking our kiss, and whispered between ragged breaths, “They’re here.”
Once she extracted herself from my embrace, she bent and retrieved her phone from the floor, moving gingerly so she wouldn’t rock the precarious elevator car.
A raised but muffled voice came from outside. “Can you open the door?”
“We don’t have any power,” Chelsea shouted back.
“You’ll have to manually crank it open.”
Her unsure gaze settled on the brass handle, but when she grasped it and began to turn it, the door cracked open an inch. It made an awful clicking sound as she cranked, and as soon as I saw her struggling with it, I stepped in to take over.
“Let me.”
The thing was hard and awkward to turn, and it got worse with each rotation. Ever so slowly, the door creeped open, revealing the elevator had stopped two feet below a floor. I had no idea where we were. The hallway was dark, and there was no number on the doorway. Had the power gone out in the entire castle?
There were two men waiting nearby, and I instantly recognized them as the security guys I’d run into back in the basement. They didn’t appear to have flashlights, but there was a portable electric lantern on the floor, casting enough light for us to see.
The men already had the gate pulled back. Neither said anything in greeting to us, but one of them reached out a hand to help Chelsea climb out.
An odd sensation trickled down my back. Something wasn’t right.
Why hadn’t the men asked if we were okay? They didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.
Chelsea’s abrupt scream ripped through me as the man jerked her up and out of the elevator. She struggled to get free, but he pulled her in and wrapped his arms tightly around her, turning in place so they were facing me.